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OAL and tandem nursing

Hello! I'm a 39-year-old mother of four. I am currently tandem nursing my 4-month-old and my 2.5-year-old. I have tandem nursed all my children, but now have a problem I've never experienced before: over the last 2 weeks, my 4-month-old has started having frequent (approx 5 times a day) green, watery stools. I know this can be a sign of foremilk/hindmilk imbalance, so I have been trying to implement "block feeding," but am unsure of how to go about this while tandem nursing.

I did have trouble with overactive let-down with babies #2 and #3, and saw a lactation consultant for that. This time, however, I have NOT had the same syptoms of OAL that I had before (baby gulping, comming off the breast, milk dribbling) but she is haaving the green, watery stools, which none of my other babies had.

It has been suggested to me that perhaps I should try either a) nursing both kids from only one side for several hours and then switching them both to the other side , or b) giving each kid their own side so that each is "regulating" their own supply.It has also been suggested that I cut back or stop nursing my 2.5-year-old, as he does nurse more frequently than was the case with the older children in my other tandem-nursing couples.

My 4-month-old is still acting well, smiling, not showing any signs of dehydration, and is gaining weight well (she is in the 50th percentile).

After exploring the LLLI site, I'm having some additional confusion: I have been operating under the assumption that frequent, watery, green stools can be caused by too much foremilk, and that "block feeding" would increase the amount of hindmilk she gets. But this LLLI article indicates a baby who is constipated needs more hindmilk, because the hindmilk acts as a laxative. (http://www.llli.org/NB/NBJulAug02p129.html )I thought it was the foremilk that had the laxative effect. If it is the hindmilk that acts as a laxative, should I not be trying to increase her hindmilk consumption if my baby already has frequent, watery stools?

Re: OAL and tandem nursing

Michele-
How is it going after a few days? What did you decide to do at night? Have babies stools remained green and watery?

I know you are well versed in TN and you have done the research on the LLLI site. Do you have the support of local LLL Leaders who you can reach out to for help?

You want your baby to get the hildmilk. Too much foremilk will cause the watery green stool. Often with TN you can get baby to nurse after the older nursling to assure that baby is getting hindmilk. Block feeding works well or keeping each child to a side can work as well. It really takes experimentation to figure out what works best for baby.